


There, In The Darkness

by periwinklepromise



Series: Ladies of Marvel Bingo [4]
Category: Darkstar (Comics), Guardians of the Galaxy (Comics), Marvel 616
Genre: Canon Related, F/F, Getting Together, Pillow Talk, Temporary Character Death (mentioned)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 20:43:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21259364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/periwinklepromise/pseuds/periwinklepromise
Summary: The sky above her was clear of clouds, a thousand thousand stars shining bright and bold. Crowded. Her father was always hoping to make those stars less crowded.





	There, In The Darkness

**Author's Note:**

> For the Whumptober prompt Embrace and my Ladies of Marvel bingo square W5: Sleeping Under The Stars. I decided to write about two ladies who have a lot of baggage surrounding stars.

Gamora barely tossed down her bedroll before slumping down onto it.

“You're sloppy,” Laynia judged. “I expected more.”

“Rubbish,” she responded, unbuckling some of her gear to tuck it under the bedroll. “I am a being of immense cosmic power, I am more than mere humans think to expect.”

“And you're sloppy.”

Gamora slipped a blade out of her sleeve and spun it in her hand.

Laynia narrowed her eyes.

Gamora ignored her. The sky above her was clear of clouds, a thousand thousand stars shining bright and bold. Crowded. Her father was always hoping to make those stars less crowded. She had held the cosmos in her once.

Sometimes, she missed it. The power, the purpose. She missed it now.

“Do you what it is to be unmade, Laynia-human?”

There was the distinct clink of blade meeting rock, the blur of Laynia sitting down to her right.

“With Weapon XII, I suppose. And later, there was a gem.”

Gamora so easily forgot that gems had been exploited on this timeline's Earth. Stark – Tony – had told her that much, but she had had other things on her mind. “Gems, yes. I was stored in the Soul Gem for a time.”

“Did it give people your essence?” Laynia asked carefully.

Gamora slid her eyes to Laynia at that. “No. It was to preserve my soul after my father attempted to kill me. I was resurrected some time later.”

“I did die. But my country found a gem that could give others my powers, even my personality. A Wraith took upon herself my soul, and was overwhelmed. So I was resurrected too, I suppose.” Laynia sighed gently, barely an exhale, and lay down fully. “None of the holy books I've seen warn you how painful it is, to be reborn.”

Gamora's jaw clenched tight. The Church. She had no reason to trust any church, in any universe. “I do not trust men who purport to be holy, or the books they write. They would make liars of us all.”

“And you have never lied?” Laynia scoffed.

“Of course I have lied,” Gamora easily admitted. “But I do not lie about pain. This cannot be said of the Inquisitors.”

“Or the KGB.”

Gamora was not familiar with all the arrangements of letters humans used. There were so many of them. “Are they your greatest enemy?”

“They were my people, once.”

Gamora thought of Thanos. Of following him, of breaking free. Of joining the Guardians of the Galaxy, and learning to love them all, even when they annoyed her. She gazed up at all those stars, stars Thanos would blot out, stars she and the Guardians would always protect. “You need better people.”

Laynia did not reply for so long Gamora thought she might be asleep, but her breathing had not dipped down to the human resting rhythm.

Laynia thought of the training she endured, of being sent after the best Black Widow her people ever created. Of betraying her people with that woman, of thinking the two of them could work and then it all falling apart so quickly after. Of the Iceman, how betrayed she had felt by his interest in her. She thought of such things every time she teleported through Darkforce now, that same feeling of boggling disorientation, the sharp blinding light on the other end. “That may be,” she finally said, utterly resigned. The Darkforce was her home and her strength, and now it terrified her just like everything else. There was no comfort there. “But I have been hurt a great deal.”

“There is immeasurable pain,” Gamora responded quietly. “In every world. We are partners in this.”

Laynia turned to look at this strange woman from another world, and there was a spark of hope in her heart she did not manage to quash before confirming, “Partners?”

Gamora's lips quirked and her voice went dry. “All we need now is a secret handshake, right? That's what Earth-humans say, is it not?”

“I don't know,” Laynia admitted. “I've been a part of more teams than I can count, but none … none of them lasted very long. Or went very well.” She thought of the Champions, of the Force, of the Winter Guard. Of X-Corporation in Paris where she died.

“We do not need a team. We can stand on our own.”

It was a tempting idea, but Laynia knew better than to trust it. “The most dangerous woman in the universe, and the Darkstar girl no one's ever heard of. A perfect match.”

“Rubbish,” Gamora dismissed. “We are both haunted by the threat of darkness, by the specter of space with no more stars.”

With no more stars. Yes, that was her fear, deep in her heart. Space with no more stars, just a wasteland.

“I like stars,” Laynia murmured, closing her eyes.

There was a rustling noise as Gamora shifted, and then Gamora's hand was on hers. She held it tightly, too tightly for a human to withstand, but Gamora was not human.

“So do I.”


End file.
